The Portland daily press., 1887-09-21
Some Last Words

Gen. Dow admits now that the law does
make it uncomfortable and unproftable'
for the rumseller. His complaint now seems
to be that 1t does not make it improbable
and uncomfortable quickly enough. He per-
sonally drove three rumsellers out of busi-
ness, but 1t took him eighteen months. APP
parently he wants some process by which he
can accomplish the same feat In eighteen
minutes What that process would be, how
ever, he explains only in very vague and
indefinite manner. He would substitute the
explosive bullet for bird shot, the broad axe
Tor the Ratchet and the sledge hammer for
the lighter tool tits impossible to discuss
programme that is so indefinitely outlined
But remedy typifed by an explosive bullet,
1t seems to us, would be rather dangerous
one to introduce into civilized community.
When foul murder has been committed in
the community great many good men are
seized with an impulse to hang the murderer
without judge or jury. The impulse is not a
discreditable one. 1t is the offspring of the
horror which the foul deed Of the criminal
has reused in their breasts. For the mo-
ment they see nothing but the immediate ef
feet OF such policy-which is the Kidding
Of the world Of man whose nature has sunk
to the level Of the wild BEASTS. II the muir
derer is brought into court and his trial is
protracted, and the case goes to higher
court on questions of law, then these good
men grow impatient. They complain of the
laws delay. They want the court to work
with broad axe instead of Ratchet
Sometimes in their anger they insnuate that
the court Is in collision with the criminal
But when these good men grow cool they
are sure to see that the ultimate effects of
gratifying their impulse to hang the murder
er without judge or jury could not be other
than disastrous. Their Impotence, too, at
the slowness Of the courts generally appears
unreasonable. Now Gen. Dow, when he
approaches the question of the suppression
of the liquor traffic is entirely obliyious to
the effect Of any measure except the effect
1t may have on the liquor traffic and
the men engaged in it. Like the husband
man in the Scriptural parable, when he sees
a tare in the wheat field his impulse is to
pull 1t up in the most expeditions manner
possible. He is entirely oblivious to the
danger that in jerking up the tare he may
jerk up lot of wheat with it, or that in his
haste he may confound the two and get hold
of the wheat instead Of the tare. The hatch
ct cuts too slowly for him, and he seizes the
broad axe, in spite Of the danger Of hewing
over the line Now these impulses are not
discroditable. They perhaps demonstrate his
sincerity and show his adherence of the
liquor traffic. but they frequently lead him to
advocate rash and dangerous methods, and
10 asperse the motives and conduct of
other men. His letter in another column
contains several insinuations Of this charac-
Ter. one OF them is that the special docket
was created for the benefit of rumsellers and
is used to-day to enable the prosecuting on
Ger to "let up" on them. Now practicallv
the special docket has existed as long %
courts have existed in this State. A certain
amount Of discretion has always been al
lowed to the prosecuting officer and the
judge. 1t Is for the interest of the State
that ii should be So Under this discretion.
long before the Superior court came into ex-
istence, cases were continued from term to
term for sentence and were marked not to
be brought forward except by order of the
court When the criminal business was
transferred from the Supreme to the Superb
or court, Judge Goddard ordered all such
cases to be placed on a special docket In
stead Of being in the interest of the criminal
TINS docket was really in the interest of the
prosecution Tor under the old practice these
cases were often lost track of and practically
passed out OF existence. The special docket
preserved them. Gen. Dow insinuates that
nothing but rum cases ever 90 on to this
aocket' Gen. Dow is entirely wrong. All